Samsung Galaxy S4 vs. iPhone 5: Which phone should you buy?

This site may earn affiliate commissions from the links on this page. Terms of use.

How do you choose between the iPhone 5 and Galaxy S4? On the one hand, the iPhone 5 is an entirely known entity that just works. You might not be getting the most exciting or feature-rich smartphone, but at least you know exactly what you’re getting. Samsung’s Galaxy S4, on the other hand, is world’s apart from the iPhone 5: It’s huge, and massively powerful, and it has a ton of features that might be awesome or gimmicky, depending on your point of view.

The best bet, if you need help choosing between the iPhone 5 and Galaxy S4, is for us to start at the beginning: the hardware. We’ll then work our way up through the software, first- and third-party support, and other features that might break the tie.

Hardware & battery life

For the hardware analysis, we’ll be looking at the US version of the Galaxy S4, which has a quad-core Snapdragon 600 SoC with integrated LTE support. The Exynos Octa version of the Galaxy S4 is a lot more exciting, but it probably won’t be available in the US — and, more importantly, we just don’t know how its eight cores perform in real-life use: They will almost certainly be lightning fast, but will it be at the expense of injudicious power consumption? (See: Atom vs. Exynos vs. Snapdragon vs. Tegra 3: Which mobile CPU is the most power efficient?)

As the table clearly shows, the Galaxy S4’s hardware is superior to the iPhone 5 in almost every way. The Galaxy S4’s cameras are better on paper, but as we know, more megapixels certainly don’t equate to better image quality. The RAM difference is big, though unlikely to have real-world repercussions; the Galaxy S4’s MicroSD slot is a definite edge over the iPhone 5, however.

Another area where the iPhone 5 might beat the Galaxy S4 is the GPU: In benchmarks, the Snapdragon 600’s Adreno 320 and the iPhone 5’s SGX543MP3 trade blows. In real-life use, the iPhone 5 might feel a bit snappier because its GPU is pushing fewer pixels — and really, we’re still not sure if it makes sense to squeeze a 1920x1080p display into a smartphone. Higher-resolution displays need stronger backlighting and require more processing power, pushing down battery life. If your eye can’t tell the difference between 1080p and 720p at 12 inches, why bother?

It’s also worth noting that the Galaxy S4’s battery is almost twice the size of the iPhone’s — but battery life is unlikely to be twice as long, due to the S4’s huge screen. Apple is famous for its ability to squeeze as much life as possible out of smaller batteries by specifically optimizing the software for the hardware — but even so, I think the S4’s 2,600 mAh battery will win out.

Winner: Galaxy S4

Chassis & dimensions

The one exception to the Galaxy S4’s hardware supremacy, of course, is if you want a smaller phone: The iPhone 5 is both smaller and lighter than the S4 by some margin. The other notable difference is that the Galaxy S4 is plastic, while the iPhone 5 is aluminium (and scuffable!)

Ultimately, though, it comes down to personal taste. While the Galaxy S4 is heavier, at 130 grams it isn’t heavy. If you want a big-screen device, go for the Galaxy; if you want something that’s easier to hold, go for the iPhone.

Winner: It’s a draw

Software

While the hardware specs certainly dictate a few real-world differences between the Galaxy S4 and iPhone 5 (most notably the iPhone’s lack of NFC and Micro SD slot), the key differentiator is the software. The Galaxy S4, with Android 4.2 and the TouchWiz skin, is completely and utterly different from iOS 6 on the iPhone. Deciding which experience is best, however, is tricky.

Apple’s iOS is something of a paradox, with its proponents claiming that its simplicity is what sets it above the competition, and its foes claiming the exact opposite. If you’ve never used a smartphone before, or if you’ve only ever used an iPhone, you will probably find iOS to be fun and easy to use. At the expense of simplicity, though, you just can’t do a whole lot with an iPhone — at least in comparison to the Galaxy S4. Not only does the iPhone 5 lack the features provided by the S4’s superior hardware (NFC, Micro SD), but iOS is so immutable that you can’t alter basic things like the home screen, web browser, or on-screen keyboard. Basically, iOS/iPhone is one-size-fits-all, and if it doesn’t fit you’re going to wish you’d got the S4 with its elastic waist. (See: Apple iOS 6 vs. Android: Google has some work to do.)

With the Galaxy S4, Samsung also introduced a bunch of crazy new features that iOS/iPhone can only dream of, and probably won’t be replicated even by the time the iPhone 5S or 6 rolls around. For more on how the Galaxy S4’s software is superior to the iPhone 5, see this story: Samsung Galaxy S4: The hardware race is over – software wins again.

Tagged In

This site may earn affiliate commissions from the links on this page. Terms of use.

ExtremeTech Newsletter

Subscribe Today to get the latest ExtremeTech news delivered right to your inbox.

Email

This newsletter may contain advertising, deals, or affiliate links. Subscribing to a newsletter indicates your consent to our
Terms of Use and
Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time.